Vuk Draskovic: Brussels Cannot Be Reached via Moscow

Vuk Draskovic (BETA/Nenad Petrovic)

Vuk Draskovic, the leader of  the Serbian Renewal Movement and a one-time foreign minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, has criticized the intention of the authorities to join the (EEU) in an opinion piece written for the Danas daily newspaper.

Recalling that ever since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic the main goal of all Serbian governments was the country's membership in the European Union, Draskovic asks „what point are we at“ in reaching that objective.

„Repeating incessantly that we are traveling to Brussels, we have been traveling in the opposite direction, the EU is far away, and we will join the Euroasian Union as early as October. That's a success, they say, because 180 million people live in the Eurasian Union market,“ Draskovic writes, to immediately question this claim.

He proceedes to quote the figures showing that Serbia's exports to Bosnia and Herzegovina exceed the total of what is exported to the countries constituting the EEU market – Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia – adding China to the group.

„The EU countries have donated to Serbia over EUR3 billion, and the U.S. another billion. The people in Serbia do not know that. They believe what the media says – what comes from the West are only threats and blackmail, while Russia and China are donors and benefactors, although no gifts are coming from these states,“ Draskovic said, adding that, among other, Serbia is putting at risk billions of euros in donations, subsidies and assistance from the EU pre-accession funds.

According to him, Serbia is also risking a civilizational rift with its citizens living in the West, of whom almost two million live in the European Union alone.